Chapter Forty-Six
This chapter is dedicated to all you wonderful people who have reviewed, and who have helped us get past 550 reviews. It's really nice to know that my work is appreciated, and I hope that you continue to enjoy it! :-)
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood, unfortunately... –cries-
Jack strode down the corridor, fuming. Typical, he thought bitterly, even being the headmaster makes no difference when you're talking to a doctor.
As he passed an open door, he heard somebody asking desperately, "...will be okay, won't she?"
Jack stopped. "Ianto?"
The young man standing by the empty bed looked the spitting image of Jack's partner – save for the blue eyes. "Do I know you?"
"Now that's just freaky," Jack blurted before he could stop himself.
The young man stared at him in surprise, having recognised his voice. "Ja— Mr Harkness!" he said, shifting his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. "I... what are you doing here?"
It took Jack a moment to realise that Ianto was speaking to him. "I had to talk to Dr Harper," he said quickly, hoping that Ianto hadn't noticed him staring.
Ianto's eyes widened. "Oh – I forgot to give you his number," he said in horror. "I'm so—"
"I just went through his wife," Jack said, cutting him off. "You might know her – Toshiko—"
"Sato," Ianto finished for him. He smiled, almost sheepishly. "She used to be my next-door-neighbour."
"Oh." Jack couldn't think of anything else to say. He swallowed. "I... uh... so what are you doing here?"
Ianto face almost crumpled. He looked away, biting his lip. "My girlfriend's been in an accident."
Jack blinked. "I... I'm sorry. How is she?"
Ianto shrugged, still looking down at the linoleum. He toed at a crack, hands in his pockets and face carefully blank. "They can't say yet. She's in surgery."
Jack automatically reached out and touched his arm. "She'll be fine. I'm sure of it," he said, giving his arm a quick squeeze.
"I hope so," Ianto murmured. "I don't know what I'd do without her."
"I know the feeling."
Ianto flopped onto the chair by the foot of the bed, and dropped his head into his hands. He let out a sad sigh, his baby-blue eyes downcast.
Jack pulled up another chair and sat next to him. "I'll wait with you," he said. It wasn't a question. "Everybody needs a friend at times like these."
-T-
Gwen pushed her dripping fringe out of her eyes and wriggled uncomfortably on the hard seat of the cockpit. The Doctor, at the wheel, was quiet and untalkative, his striking face drawn and tired.
"I still think we should have given them another week," Gwen said half-heartedly.
Martha flicked her a cursory glance, her face upturned to the rain. "It's been three weeks, Gwen. We have to accept that they're not coming back."
"There aren't any readings," Toshiko added. Her blue anorak hood was pulled up over her head, her hands buried deep within its pockets.
The boat lurched, and would have thrown Gwen to the floor had Owen not caught her. The engine throbbed beneath their feet, and the orange VHF radio buzzed like a bee trapped behind a window.
"How much longer?" Donna asked.
Owen checked his watch. "Ten hours."
"I still don't get why skinny-boy here couldn't just whizz us home in the TARDIS," Donna said. She huddled down further into her anorak, a curl of ginger hair escaping from beneath her hood.
The Doctor didn't even look around at them. "It's better this way."
"But not as easy," Donna retorted. She brushed the damp curl off her forehead with an impatient flick of a hand. "If this is some stupid thing about Jack, then—"
"It's got nothing to do with the captain," the Doctor said tersely.
"What, then?"
"You wouldn't understand."
Donna shook her head. "There he goes again."
Gwen's bum was turning numb. She wriggled again, wishing that there was some way of speeding up the journey. "Maybe we should just leave him for a bit," she suggested. "Play I-Spy, or something."
Toshiko's face fell. "Maybe something other than I-Spy?" she said quietly, her voice almost lost in the wind that tugged at their clothing. The mast rattled. "After all..."
Gwen's eyes widened. "I forgot."
"Or we could try doing something else entirely," Owen said, "other than bloody kids' games."
"Shut up, Owen," Gwen said testily. "I'm only trying to help."
"Well, don't."
"Fine, then. We can just sit here and be bored for the day," Gwen snapped.
"S'better than listening to you witter on—"
"For goodness' sake, stop bickering," Martha said angrily. "I know that you're missing Jack and Ianto – we all are – but that's no excuse to be at each others' throats all the time!"
"We're not—"
"What makes you say—?"
"Shut up!" Toshiko ground out, effectively cutting them both off. They both stared at her in shock.
"Sorry?" Gwen asked, startled.
Tosh took off her glasses, the lenses misted with condensation, and glared at them. "Your arguing isn't going to help anything," she said, voice wound tight. "We need to carry on trying to find them, not turn on each other about every little thing!"
"Sorry." Gwen shifted in her seat again, feeling uncomfortably like she was back in school, being told-off for talking in class.
"You're right," Owen admitted grudgingly, "but there isn't exactly much else we can do."
Toshiko fished inside her anorak pocket and pulled out a PDA, the sensitive piece of equipment wrapped in a waterproof covering. "I've been running a trace on Jack's... Jack-ness, whatever it is—"
"Technobbable, that – love it," Owen said.
"—and I'm yet to get the exact results through, but it's giving off some weird readings."
"Like what?" Martha asked.
"Jack seems to be in some sort of time-bubble, or something similar – the readings can't quite get—" Toshiko was interrupted by a bleat from her PDA. She slid out the stylus and tapped at the screen, a frown of concentration creasing her forehead. "No, I was wrong – they're not in a time-bubble, but rather some sort of mind-hold."
The Doctor looked around at her. "Mind-hold?" he repeated. His hair was dark with rain, plastered to his forehead. He had refused an anorak, for what reasons Gwen hadn't a clue.
"Mind-hold," she confirmed. "I haven't got a trace on where they are, exactly, but it's somewhere in the Channel Islands—"
"So we should stay there!" Gwen said, exasperated. "Like I've been telling you for hours—"
"—and to get a clearer idea of what's happened to them, I really need the equipment back at the Hub," Tosh said, ignoring her. She waved the PDA at them, water droplets flying off the plastic casing. "This isn't powerful enough."
"What about the TARDIS?" Donna asked.
The Doctor shook his head, eyes unreadable. "She can't track Jack."
"Why not?" Owen asked. "If this is about the 'wrong' thing again, then—"
"You wouldn't understand," the Doctor said, cutting him off. Gwen shivered at the iciness of his voice. "It's complicated."
"I'm not a bloody idiot," Owen said.
"Try us," Gwen added, pushing back her fringe again and glaring at the timelord. "I think you'll find that we understand a lot more than you seem to think."
The Doctor stared at her for a minute, eyes dark; Gwen couldn't even fathom what was flashing through his mind. "Well, then," he said slowly. "You'd better sit still and listen carefully..."
Next chapter should (hopefully) be up as soon as I've the time to write it... :-/
Reviews are still loved, and I promise to reply to them all this time – my computer went screwy, and I figured that you'd prefer another chapter to lots of review-replies! ;-)